CONTENTS.


CHAP PAGE
I. CURLY LOCKS 1
II. GOOSEY, GOOSEY GANDER 40
III. LITTLE BO-PEEP 65
IV. MISTRESS MARY 101
V. LADY BIRD 137
VI. ONE, TWO, BUCKLE MY SHOE 165
VII. RIDE A COCK-HORSE 197
VIII. LADY QUEEN ANNE 228
IX. UP, UP, UP, AND DOWN, DOWN, DOWN-Y 259

[Illustration]

[Illustration]




CURLY LOCKS.


WHEN a little girl is six and a little boy is six, they like pretty much
the same things and enjoy pretty much the same games. She wears an
apron, and he a jacket and trousers, but they are both equally fond of
running races, spinning tops, flying kites, going down hill on sleds,
and making a noise in the open air. But when the little girl gets to be
eleven or twelve, and to grow thin and long, so that every two months a
tuck has to be let down in her frocks, then a great difference becomes
visible. The boy goes on racing and whooping and comporting himself
generally like a young colt in a pasture; but she turns quiet and shy,
cares no longer for rough play or exercise, takes droll little
sentimental fancies into her head, and likes best the books which make
her cry. Almost all girls have a fit of this kind some time or other in
the course of their lives; and it is rather a good thing to have it
early, for little folks get over such attacks more easily than big ones.
Perhaps we may live to see the day when wise mammas, going through the
list of nursery diseases which their children have had, will wind up
triumphantly with, "Mumps, measles, chicken-pox,--and they are all over
with 'Amy Herbert,' 'The Heir of Redclyffe,' and the notion that they
are going to be miserable for the rest of their lives!"

Read More